1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process of removing oleaginous material from domestic, municipal and industrial wastewater and, more specifically, to a method for removing oleaginous material containing oleaginous material of animal origin from wastewater containing the same using a microbial combination of a novel mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and at least one other microorganism of the genus Bacillus or of the genus Pseudomonas other than the novel mutant Pseudomonas aeruginosa whereby oleaginous material in the wastewater is degraded and thereby removed from the wastewater. Further, this invention relates to a novel microbial combination of the novel mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in combination with at least one other microorganism of the genus Bacillus or of the genus Pseudomonas other than the novel mutant of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fats and greases of either animal or vegetable origin, particularly of animal origin, have historically caused problems in systems for handling wastewater. Breakdown of these fats and greases is very slow, and due to their inherent nature of being water insoluble, fats and greases have a tendency to coat or completely clog drain or treatment systems. Disposal of fats is also hindered. Because they have a low specific gravity and a high melting point, fats float and solidify, causing difficulties in closed treatment systems such as in domestic septic tanks and in buried pipes where the grease and other waste become trapped and build up.
Further, problems arise in municipal and industrial systems due to the presence of grease and fats and, even in aerated waste handling lagoons and other systems as used by meat and poultry processors, the natural degradation process is often too slow, resulting in thick layers of grease and fat which build up to critical levels or carry through the system undigested.
As a result of the difficulty arising due to the inability of bacteria normally present in conventional treatment systems to degrade greases and fats at an acceptable rate, the treatment of wastewater containing such has been a problem in the past.
With the increasing concern as to minimization of the problems arising from pollution, biological processes utilizing microorganisms are being industrially municipally and domestically employed in an increasing amount, and a large amount of activity in research and development is occurring presently to develop new microbial strains capable of use in wastewater treatment both industrially, municipally and domestically. Even with this increased activity in investigating and developing strains of microorganisms to solve particular waste removal problems, a sufficiently acceptable solution to the problem of removing greases and fats which are present in wastewater from domestic, municipal and industrial sources has not yet been developed.